


Friend

by NervousAsexual



Series: Whumptober 2020 [21]
Category: Thief (Video Game Original Series)
Genre: Frostbite, Garrett has feelings but has no idea what those are, Hurt/Comfort, Hypothermia, spoilers for TMA level Precious Cargo
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-21
Updated: 2020-10-21
Packaged: 2021-03-09 04:42:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,271
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27138155
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NervousAsexual/pseuds/NervousAsexual
Summary: Even though he knows perfectly well how it will play out Garrett looks for Viktoria's missing agent.
Series: Whumptober 2020 [21]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1960987
Kudos: 5
Collections: Whumptober 2020





	Friend

**Author's Note:**

> Whumptober prompt #21--frostbite

He knew how this was gonna end as soon as Viktoria told him that she'd had no word from her agent. She claimed that Lotus was faithful, a "trusted friend," but he'd just given her the most unimpressed look he could manage--an unimpressed look with both eyes. She should know better than anyone that "trust" was a cheap commodity.

Hours later, as he looked through the freezer window at the pagan's frostbitten hands and feet and face, he began to think that faithfulness wasn't worth much either.

The pagan lifted his head when Garrett slipped in, unfocused eyes trying and not entirely failing to track him as he approached.

"Lotus?" he asked cautiously.

"S-s-stills I breathes, Mechanist."

The frost-burned skin grew only more gruesome as he got closer. Garrett fixed his eyes on a spot just behind the pagan. "I'm no Mechanist. My name is Garrett."

Lotus looked at him for a long moment, unsteady and silent, before a smile quirked the corners of his lips.

"Garrett," he repeated. "Yes. The Lady knows me you would come."

"Knew I would come? But--"

One frostbitten hand touched his arm gently. "Hush, sneaksie friend. Time runs out."

His heart sank in his chest. 'Friend,' huh?

"There bes a mechanicst named Cavador. Karras needs him. Relies he on his craftsy works. Karras always asking..." Lotus' head began to sink to his chest and he jerked it back up sharply. "Needs he ever more and more from Cavador. The... Cetus... Cetus Amicus." He sank forward. Garrett caught him before he could slip off the metal shelf. His head fell against Garrett's shoulder. "Horror of... of the seas."

He wasn't even shivering. Garrett hauled him down, wincing at the sound of skin and ice separating. Lotus whimpered but didn't struggle as Garrett half-carried, half-dragged him toward the door.

"Garrett? Must... tells the Lady..."

"Don't worry. I'll find Cavador. Karras will be stopped."

Lotus' voice was almost too soft to hear. "Wait. You'll need... Takes you the key."

They stumbled out into the warm rain and his boots slipped in the mud. He tried to catch himself, getting one step in, then another, then another, but the added weight overbalanced him and they both fell. He got to his knees, lungs burning.

"Wait," he said when Lotus tried to raise himself. "Let me get you..." He listened for the combat mech still stomping around beyond the cold storage building. "...Let me get you around behind the well. It's a blind spot, you can get..."

Lotus only sobbed.

An unfamiliar ache settled in his chest. "Don't, don't, it's not far." He put his head back, closing his eyes to the rain, and tried to think. "I can... I..."

The touch of hands on his arms drew his attention back down. The hands that pawed at him were black with frostbite. "Garrett?"

"Yes." Nausea threatened to climb his throat. "Yes, my..." He choked on the word. "My friend. What can I do?"

Lotus hardly seemed aware of his hands on Garrett's. "The c-cold... feels nothing now. Garrett, I begs, return me to the Green."

"I'll do what I can. I just need to find some place for you to hole up. After I've gotten Cavador I'll come back for you." The well was so far, though. Under the guard post, then. If he stayed quiet there was no reason for the guard to look underneath the walkway. It would be warm, and dry, and...

"No. No, Garrett?"

"Just let me think." He pressed the heels of his hands into his eyes, smearing mud over his face. "I just need to..."

Lotus' hand closed around the front of his armor. With a strength Garrett would never have expected he pulled them closer together. Their eyes met. Lotus sobbed. He opened his mouth and he cried, "Kill me!"

Despite the warm rain Garrett felt plunged back in the deep freeze. "What? No. Viktoria... I mean, the lady..."

Lotus' entire face seemed to open up, but not with hope. His eyes were filled with hurt and betrayal.

"I don't kill people. I don't. I've taken one life in my entire life and I'm not going to do it again." He grabbed Lotus' arms and started pulling him toward the well. The guards might not hear there. "I'm a thief. I'm not a taffing murderer. I don't know why that's so hard to understand."

Lotus cried.

"I never asked for any of this. I am so sick of pagans and mechanists and being the better person. I was just fine before your lady just..." He slipped again. There was a trail of mud behind them but nothing he could do about it now except hope that the combat bot wouldn't register it. "...just waltzed in and dragged me into this... this taffing burrickshit..."

"Please," Lotus cried. On the other side of the cove the combat mech turned toward them.

"Shut up. Shut up! I'm trying to get you out of here but I can't..." He sank into the mud. He couldn't catch his breath. "I can't..." His eyes were fixed on the well. There was nothing else he could see. "I..."

"Garrett, I begs. My friend..."

"I'm not your friend." They were close to the well. The mech was getting closer but he knew their sight was limited, there was still time, it didn't have to end like this. "I'm not Viktoria's friend. I'm doing this so that everyone will shut up and leave me alone." One more heave could do it. One more. "I'm not your taffing friend!"

With all of his strength he dragged Lotus into the shadow of the well then collapsed beside him, arms shaking too much to keep himself upright. The mech came ever closer.

"Garrett..."

"Please," he begged him. "Please, just stay quiet." He pulled Lotus close to him, practically wrapped his body around the freezing one to keep him warm, and quiet, and safe, while the mech kept coming. "I've got you. I'll get you back to the Maw. You just have to..." His entire body ached and burned and he couldn't catch his breath. "...just have to be quiet. Just a while longer..."

The mech came closer. Closer. Closer...

And the whine of the gears swiveled and grew fainter as the mech began its sweep back.

"Oh." He let his head sink back into the mud. He'd never get the mud off his hood but he was past caring. "Ha." He breathed as deeply as he could. Lotus smelled like dead fish but air was air. "I didn't think that would work. Ha." He tried to swallow, dry throat stinging sharply. He dragged himself onto his hands and knees and peered beyond the well. The mech's blue steel body was shrinking in the distance. "Just let me... let me get my breath back." He'd run Keeper training courses that didn't take as much out of him as this had. "Thank you. For staying quiet. I..."

His voice trailed away. Everything was silent. Everything but the mech in the distance.

"Lotus?" He shook his shoulder, knowing how it would end but unable to leave it. "Lotus. It's gone." The pain in his chest flared up and he bent over himself. His head touched Lotus' icy shoulder. "I'm... I'm going to find Cavador. I'm going to stop Karras. And..." Breathing was such a struggle. "After that I'll come back for you. Alright? Just... just wait here for me."

The mech came and went twice before his breathing was back under control. He brushed what remained of the ice from Lotus' face, and then he slipped away.


End file.
